New York City FC continued its impressive offseason Thursday, this time with a former French youth international.

The club announced it has added 23-year-old defender Cedric Hountondji on a free transfer after his contract with GFC Ajaccio in France’s Ligue 2 expired.

“Cedric is a strong player who is dominant aerially and physically, he is excellent in 1 v 1 situations and is calm on the ball as well,” NYCFC head coach Patrick Vieira said in a release. “We were looking to strengthen our back four and Cedric is someone we were following for a long time.

“He’s a young defender with his best years ahead of him and there was a lot of interest in him. I think it says a lot that a young player in Europe wanted to come to us and believes in our project and the ambitions of our football club.”

The Toulouse-born center back has spent his entire career in France, first getting his start with Rennes in the country’s top division. He made his first-team debut in 2013 and appeared in 17 matches that season before he was sent on loan to lower-level sides Châteauroux and Auxerre the following two seasons. He joined GFC Ajaccio following the 2015-16 season and has appeared in 62 matches the past two years there.

Hountondji represented France at multiple youth levels before he represented Benin at the senior level in 2017. He’s made five appearances for the Benin national team.

The 6-foot-5 Hountondji is a viable replacement for Frederic Brillant, whom the club shipped to DC United last month. While he’s expected to compete for a place in the squad, for now, he provides much-needed depth behind starting center backs Maxime Chanot and Alexander Callens.

He becomes the fifth signing for NYCFC this offseason, following Designated Player Jesus Medina, Saad Abdul-Salaam, Brad Stuver and Anton Tinnerholm.